This invention relates to an engine starter and, more particularly, to an engine starter for a vehicular engine.
A conventional vehicular engine starter is constructed as illustrated in FIG. 1. The conventional engine starter 1 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a d.c. motor 2, an over-running clutch 4 slidably fitted over an output rotary shaft 3, a planetary speed reduction gear 5 for reducing the rotational force of the armature rotary shaft 2a of the d.c. motor 2 to transmit it to the clutch outer member 4a of the over-running clutch 4 through the output rotary shaft 3, and a shift lever 8 for sliding the over-running clutch 4 along the output rotary shaft 3, the shift lever 8 engaging at its one end with the plunger rod of a solenoid switch 6 mounted on a side of the d.c. motor 2 and being connected at its the other end to an annular member 7 mounted to the over-running clutch 4.
However, in the conventional engine starter as shown in FIG. 1, the solenoid switch 6 for moving the shift lever 8 and for closing electrical contacts connecting an electrical source to the d.c. motor 2 is positioned on one side of the d.c. motor 2 in a parallel, side-by-side relationship and the shift lever 8 must be provided for slidably moving the over-running clutch 4 along the output rotary shaft 3 into engagement with the engine ring gear. Therefore, with the conventional starter, a mounting flange for mounting the starter to an engine must be attached to the front bracket 10 at a position in front of the solenoid switch 6. Therefore, a problem is posed that the distance between the pinion 11 and a mounting surface 9a of the mounting flange 9 cannot be increased as desired, often making it impossible to mount the engine starter to an engine in which the distance between the engine ring gear and the mounting surface of the engine to which the starter is mounted is relatively large.